You Won’t Think of Prince Harry’s Memoir, ExcessiveAnd a demographic crisis in China has a lot in common – but hear me out.
Last night, I finished reading Rebel Shahi’s book. In it, he describes his longing for a life partner and a family and his fear (before meeting his wife, Meghan) that this will never happen for him. I found that related to intensity. I am 37 next month, single and childless. Totally dislike it. The right man never came along, and it wasn’t until recently that I was ready to be a parent. (Has anyone ever, though?) Still, it’s a sore spot, the one thing lacking in my otherwise pretty awesome life besides financial security.
However, this morning reminded me that even if Prince Charming arrived tomorrow, I’m not sure I’d want to be raising kids with him. Not at all in America. Who can afford it? And if you can, who wants to worry that they’re sending their kids to slaughter every time they get on the school bus? Couldn’t bear to think about it.
National Bureau of Statistics of China released data It is showing that there were 850,000 fewer people in the country at the end of 2022 than at the end of 2021. It marks the first time in 60 years – since the Great Famine – that China’s population has shrunk. Due to its long-standing and self-explanatory one-child policy, China is now faced with aging citizens with very few young ones to look after and care for. This is a demographic crisis.
In this country, as in most of the West, the far-right is also concerned about a demographic crisis. their baseless fear white replacement — that ethnic Europeans and the descendants of white settlers in other Western countries are being systematically “replaced” by black and brown people from the global south — is well documented. “We can’t restore our civilization with someone else’s children,” former right-wing Republican Representative Steve King once said, Tucker Carlson, meanwhile, is accused the left He declared a fertility crisis in the United States because of “fertility and anger at the idea that nature and people reproduce”.
I’m a staunch socialist and I want kids more than anything, so I don’t think Carlson is right about the left being offended by having kids. He is not wrong, however, that the United States is experiencing a decline in our own birthrate. This trend started with the financial crisis of 2008 and has not decreased; In 2019, the birth rate reached its lowest level in 35 years.
The Kovid-19 pandemic further increased this. In 2021, the Census Bureau released data It is showing that the population growth has dropped to an all-time low of only 0.12 per cent. This is due to increase in death rate, decrease in birth rate and a Steep decline in net migration by the xenophobic rhetoric and policies of the Trump administration. the census bureau itself forecast There will be more senior citizens than children by 2035 – only 12 years from now.
Although this is not a conspiracy theory. People are usually not reproducing because they are leftists who hate biology, or because they want to import babies from other countries like they are iPhones, as Steve King thinks. a 2018 new York Times survey found that 64 percent of people who want more children could cite the cost of childcare, while 49 percent said they were concerned about the economy and 44 percent said they couldn’t afford to have more children, full pause.
Lack of ability to afford childcare or household expenses and concerns about the economy were also key reasons don’t Want kids, well, don’t want them. This is not an accident, but the result of bad public policy and neoliberal economics. america wages remained stable Since the early 1970s, despite increases in the productivity of American workers. House prices, however, reached a record high last year while half of us can’t pay rent On a one bedroom apartment. one in 10 families can’t deliver groceries and the Department of Agriculture estimates 54 million Americans don’t have access to healthy food,
Meanwhile, as I recently learned from experience, our healthcare system ranks Worst in high income countriesin despite of most expensive, I received a tax credit through the exchange to lower my monthly health insurance premiums not because I earn very little (being a freelance journalist and graduate student pays the bills, but only), but because I make $350. Couldn’t pay my December premium Wasn’t allowed to pay my January premium of $15. After weeks of negotiating with the bureaucracy of both the Federal Exchange and my (now former) insurance company, I was able to obtain insurance that would be effective February 1st.
Until then, I’m hoping not to join 100 million Americans who have medical debtBy doing their level best to avoid getting sick or having an accident, including the 12 percent of the population who owe more than $10,000. Either would be financially disastrous. How can I raise a child if I can’t even bear to sprain my ankle?
if i could Like millions of other Americans, I could not afford child care. we Spend less on helping families access childcare Out of our peer nations. we have Worst maternity leave law in the world, meet new parents 12 weeks paid vacationWith Only five percent of new fathers are taking more than two weeks of parental leave,
Of course, assuming we can afford childcare, we have to worry about our kids being murdered at their daycare. gun violence is now leading cause of death for American children, And while teachers are expected to die for our children, they are not paid like heroes and our schools remain neglected. A study by The Century Foundation found that our schools are underfunded To the tune of $150bn every year.
If you manage to get your kids through high school alive and properly educated, though, it’s still not enough. As Republicans continue to challenge student loan forgiveness, College remains unaffordable for many AmericansIn-spite of this A bachelor’s degree is now equivalent to a high school diploma a generation ago. I saw this firsthand when I worked in the mortgage industry. The entry-level job I took in 2011 was open to any high school graduate; When I left the company in 2013, the same company was only hiring college graduates for that position.
Who wants a child they can’t afford, only to send them into a world they can’t compete in? The deck is stacked against us, the working people of this country. that’s why i always say that If I have children, I will not raise them in America. This is no place for children. It barely fit for adults.
If America wants to reverse its population decline, it needs to provide Americans with policies and a social safety net that support those who want to start a family. This includes a national living wage, universal healthcare at the point of access, healthy food and subsidies for affordable housing (or even building public housing). It means comprehensive gun control to keep our children safe. This means reducing the cost of college.
Essentially, this means transforming our entire culture into one that encourages community and collectivism rather than capitalism and rigid individualism. It means understanding that our destinies are interconnected, not determined solely by us.
Prince Harry learned this when he married Meghan and put his wife and children first. Now, we have our lessons to learn. If he can spare the royal family, we can help working families right here in America.
And American families – present and future – need our help. We are also facing a demographic crisis. It’s time we started addressing it. For the sake of our children, real and imagined, let us be the kind of society that encourages and nurtures families and children – not the kind that starves them, and then drops them off at their schools. shoots.